Keris Stainton's Blog, page 42

Boy quotes

(Some of these are really old.)

Joe just said, “Smack my butt and call me Larry!” He did not learn that from me. *stares at Harry*

Lying on the sofa, feeling sorry for myself. Harry covered me with a blanket, Joe brought me his Peppa Pig. “Ohhh, poor Middy…”

Joe: “I just found this for you, Middy. There. In you book.” Yeah. That’s a bookmark.

Harry: “How do you spell ‘didge’?” Me: “Didge?” “Yes, like Rio de Janeiro.”

Joe’s been in bed for over an hour. I can hear him on the monitor saying, “Middy? Daddy? Where ARE you?”

I’ve just heard Harry saying to Joe: “I need a holiday… come on, let’s go to Las Vegas!”

Me to Harry: “You haven’t heard a peep out of Joe?” Harry: “What’s a peebarger?” I need to enunciate… #clothears

Joe taking toddler egotism to new levels with “I do it by Joeself!”

Played Harry some Dolly Parton today. He said, “Is she an actual doll?”

Joe just fell off the sofa. I said, “How did you do that?!” He said, ”Yike Humpty Dumpty.” Fair enough.

Happy Birthday, Stella!

Hope you have a fabulous day!

Love, Keris xxx

Homeschooling Harry: Week Five

Sorry I didn’t post last week. I was away and so David took over homeschooling duties (which you can read about on Harry’s blog).

A few things have happened as a result of my ranty Week Three post. The first thing was that I got called in to see Harry’s headmistress. I don’t mind telling you, I was afeared. I do tend to let off steam on my blog without thinking about the consequences and I thought I was in for a telling off. (David said, “Yeah, I thought maybe a teacher would read it and not like it…” He didn’t think to mention that to me though!)

Anyway, my fears were unfounded. Harry’s Head was fantastic. Totally supportive of what I’m trying to do, fine with me skipping the curriculum. She even ended the conversation by saying, “Keep going. You’re doing a wonderful job.” I went in to see Harry’s teacher too and it turns out she never expected me to do the worksheets – she’d just given them to me to give me an idea of the levels they work to. I must admit to feeling a pang of guilt, but I hope it was clear in my post that it’s the education system I have a problem with, NOT Harry’s teacher or school.

Which brings me to the comments about the above post, but left on the other Week Three post. I assume my posts have been flagged up on some sort of anti-homeschooling forum because the commenters certainly didn’t seem to have read the posts. Naively, it didn’t even occur to me that some people would have a problem with me deciding to do this. It should have done because of course I know how parenting can be a minefield of judgement, but it really didn’t.

The latest comment is much more polite, but one part keeps going round my head.

“At my child’s school they have a class assembly on Fridays so that each class takes it in turn to demonstrate what they have learned in a particular topic. My child would hate to miss Fridays as he enjoys the assembly especially when it the turn of his class. It gives him confidence to stand and say his piece in front of the whole school. It is a shame they do not do this as your child’s school.”

Well, they do do that at Harry’s school. In fact, his class assembly was yesterday. His teacher asked if he’d like to come in and do the assembly with the rest of his class – she’d written a part for him – but equally it wasn’t a problem if he’d rather not. He thought about it for a few days and eventually decided he didn’t want to do it. Not because he doesn’t have “the confidence to … say his piece in front of the whole school”, he’s done that lots of times over the past few years, but rather because he now sees Fridays as being for homeschooling and we’re both happy with that. The bit of the comment that really annoyed me was “It is a shame they do not do this [at] your child’s school”. Say they didn’t do it at Harry’s school – who is this person to decide that’s “a shame”? Without knowing anything else about the school or the child(ren) concerned? I find it really odd. But it’s probably something I’m going to have to get used to.

In other news, I read Seth Godin’s free ebook, Stop Stealing Dreams: What Is School For?, and it blew me away. So much to think about.

What we’re doing and why.

All Homeschooling Harry posts

Miss Representation

I discovered Miss Representation via a link to this video on Blue Milk

I haven’t had time to have a good look around yet, but it looks incredible and I love the pledge, which was emailed to me when I signed up:

1. Tell 5 people about the film and share one thing you learned from watching it.

2. Parents – watch TV and films with your children. Raise questions like “What if that character had been a girl instead?”

3. Remember your actions influence others. Mothers, aunts and loved ones – don’t downgrade or judge yourself by your looks. Fathers, uncles and loved ones—treat women around you with respect. Remember children in your life are watching and learning from you.

4. Use your consumer power. Stop buying tabloid magazines and watching shows that degrade women. Go see movies that are written and directed by women (especially on opening weekend to boost the box office ratings). Avoid products that resort to sexism in their advertising.

5. Mentor others! It’s as easy as taking a young woman to lunch. Start by having open and honest conversations with a young person in your life.

Anyone else want to take the pledge? 

Emma’s Elmo pyjamas (includes Emma excerpt!)

 

I bought myself a pair of Elmo pyjama bottoms last week and it was only afterwards, when I was sitting in bed, wearing them with a black t-shirt, that I realised I was dressed as Emma. In my book…

As we turn to walk back to the canal, I shade my eyes and say, ‘What are you wearing?’

He looks down at himself and then back up at me. ‘What?’ But he’s grinning, so he knows exactly what I’m getting at.

He’s wearing baggy long shorts and a sort of tank top over a T-shirt with bright green trainers and no socks. He always did dress weird – as if he couldn’t care less what anyone thought – but not this weird. He’s also got a sort of barrel bag over his back with badges pinned to the strap. One of them says ‘We are all made of stardust’.

‘More to the point, what are you wearing?’ he says.

I glance down at myself and feel my cheeks get hot. In my rush to find out what Oscar was doing I didn’t even realise what I left the house in. I’m wearing a black T-shirt over Elmo pyjama bottoms.

‘I may have Elmo on my pyjamas, but you appear to have him on your head,’ I say.

He reaches up and runs his hand through his red hair. ‘Oh yeah. I did this for a bet, but I like it. What do you think? It’s eye-catching, right?’

‘Almost eye-searing,’ I say.

He grins and points to his teeth. ‘No brace either.’

His teeth are straight and his grin is just as huge as it always was. People used to call him ‘Banana Mouth’.

I realise I’m grinning back at him without even thinking about it.

He sort of pats me on the arm and hops up and down a little bit. ‘It’s so good to see you!’ he says.

‘You too,’ I say.

And it is.

Being Dory

Just keep swimming…

I’ve never been a fan of swimming. I loathed it at school and I’m not thrilled when the boys want to go. It’s cold and smelly and I once found a toenail (a whole toenail) in a changing room.

But for some reason, a few weeks ago, I fancied going swimming. I ignored it, hoping it would go away, but then I dragged myself off to our local pool and… I really enjoyed it.

It was very quiet. I was the youngest person there by about 25 years. I swam about a bit. I got out. I got dry. I went home. I ate everything in the fridge. (Swimming makes me hungrier than anything else ever.) And then I thought… I’ll do that again.

I went again this morning and enjoyed it even more. Mainly because every now and then the sun shone through the glass roof and I could paddle my way over to a patch of sunny pool and pretend I was on holiday.

52 Books: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

I’d seen lots of people tweeting enthusiastically about this book, but it was this review by Fiona McCallion that finally convinced me to give it a go.

I downloaded the sample and, once I got to the end, just wasn’t willing to stop reading and so bought it. I know that’s one of the main benefits of the Kindle, but I usually add books to my wishlist rather than buying them immediately. I’d say this is maybe only the third time I’ve done it? (I might be kidding myself there, but I certainly don’t do it often.)

Anyway. I absolutely loved it. I worried it would be too sad and it is in parts – not helped by the fact that the main two characters have the same names as my parents – but it’s ultimately life-affirming. I finished it last Thursday and Harold has popped into my head numerous times since. I can tell he’s one of those characters that I’ll wonder about in the future. I hope he’s okay.

Here’s the blurb:

When Harold Fry leaves home one morning to post a letter, with his wife upstairs hoovering, he has no idea that he is about to walk from one end of the country to the other.

He has no hiking boots or map, let alone a compass, waterproof or mobile phone.

All he knows is that he must keep walking.

To save someone’s life.

A post from Harry (updated!)

Harry has asked me and my blog readers to help him name a new TV show he’s working on. Over to Harry:

Wick name do you like best

Is it Harry . who or cinderharry

UPDATED!

People have been asking what the shows are about. I asked Harry to write it, but he didn’t want to (there are croissants in the offing, so I’m not surprised really). 

CinderHarry

Harry is invited to a ball, but his ugly stepbrothers don’t want him to go. One of his ugly stepbrothers is Joe, but there are two Joes and the other Joe is Harry’s Fairy Godbrother and says he can go to the ball and gives him a dress to wear. At the ball, he meets a princess, but has to leave at midnight. (Harry planned for the princess to find his glass slipper, but I suggested perhaps he should leave something different? So…) The princess finds a glass “bot bot” and then has to travel the land trying to find the matching bum.

Harry Who

Just like Doctor Who, but with Harry. 

25 hours in London

On Thursday morning, I dashed off to London, mainly for lovely Tanya Byrne’s book launch (which I’ll be writing about for UKYA), but I also managed to squeeze in a meeting at my publishers and breakfast with some fabulous author friends. I’m still shattered, so will blog more about it another day, but here’s a photo from breakfast on Friday.

L-R: Keren David, me, Susie Day, Fiona Dunbar (thanks to Keren for the photo)

I had such a wonderful time (along with the Best Latte Ever) and I still can’t quite get over how lucky I am to have made so many lovely friends through writing YA. Such a welcoming, supportive, funny and all round amazing community. I’m still pinching myself, honestly, which is probably why I look like a competition winner in the photo!

New York: then and now (ish)

Along with scanning in the contents of my mum’s suitcase, I’ve also been scanning the boxes of slides. Among them were Mum’s photos of her trip to New York in 1964. (She was living in Boston at the time, working as a nanny, along with her friend – also called Maureen.)

This was one of Mum’s photos – taken from the top of the Rockefeller Centre (Mum calls it the RCA Building. It’s the GE Building now).

And here’s mine, taken from the same place, but in 2007.

In the opposite direction, here’s Mum’s:

And mine:

I never made it to New York while Mum was alive. I actually first went there the year she died (1999) and I remember, while there, desperately wanting to phone her and tell her where we’d been and what we’d done. I got that feeling again, looking at these photos.